Exemplary embodiments pertain to the art of wireless communication.
Many systems include components or devices that must communicate with each other or a central controller, and, in many cases, that communication is wireless. Typically, contention-based protocols such as IEEE 802.15.11 and 802.15.4 are used to organize and prioritize the communication among the devices. These protocols provide random or non-deterministic access to radio frequency (RF) channels. As a result, a real-time stream of data may not be guaranteed. Other protocols (including IEEE 802.15.4) have contention-free mechanisms such as guaranteed time slot (GTS). GTS requires knowledge of the bandwidth requirement and limits the number of devices that may use GTS.